Reading Mastery¶
Product or Programme · All products and programmes
Evidence · 7 claims (5 for, 1 mixed, 1 against) · 2 studies (2 causal),q2–q3· 1 of 2 report an effect size · 7 claims rest on one study
Description¶
Reading Mastery is SRA/McGraw-Hill's structured direct-instruction reading curriculum, developed by Siegfried Engelmann for elementary learners.
Components¶
- Reading Mastery direct instruction reading program (Reading Mastery Classic K-3 and Reading Mastery Plus K-6): Reading Mastery is a direct instruction program providing 'explicit, systematic instruction in English language reading,' available as Reading Mastery Classic (levels I and II, grades K-3) and Reading Mastery Plus, an integrated reading-language program for grades K-6. It begins with phonemic awareness and sound-letter correspondence and moves into word and passage reading, vocabulary development, comprehension, and oral reading fluency. Developed by Dr. Siegfried Engelmann as Distar Reading for Project Follow Through, it is distributed by SRA/McGraw-Hill and used with more than 1 million students in one-third of the nation's schools. (WWC Intervention Report: Reading Mastery SRA/McGraw-Hill (2006))
Claims¶
- The WWC-computed average effect size for Reading Mastery on ELL reading achievement is 0.76, corresponding to an improvement index of +28 percentile points [+M]
- One year after the intervention, Reading Mastery showed a statistically significant effect on word attack for English language learners, with positive but non-significant differences on other reading measures [+M]
- Supplemental Reading Mastery instruction showed substantively important immediate effects on four of five reading measures for English language learners, none statistically significant [+M] — (also cited [~M])
- The WWC rates Reading Mastery as having potentially positive effects on the reading achievement of English language learners [+M]
- Reading Mastery shows no discernible effects on reading comprehension for adolescent learners, with an average improvement index of –7 percentile points [-W]
- Reading Mastery has potentially positive effects on reading fluency for adolescent learners, with a WWC improvement index of +19 percentile points [+M]
- The evidence base for Reading Mastery with adolescent learners is small: only 2 of 175 reviewed studies met WWC evidence standards [~W]
Related Products and Programmes¶
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Key Sources¶
- WWC Intervention Report: Reading Mastery SRA/McGraw-Hill. (2006). What Works Clearinghouse, U.S. Department of Education. https://ies.ed.gov/ncee/wwc
- What Works Clearinghouse, U.S. Department of Education. (2010). WWC Intervention Report: Reading Mastery (Adolescent Literacy). http://www.mcgraw-hill.co.uk/sra/downloads/Reading%20Mastery/Reading%20Mastery%20Signature%20Edition%20Brochure.pdf
Page metadata
| Field | Value |
|---|---|
type |
product |
id |
reading-mastery |
title |
Reading Mastery |
description |
Reading Mastery is SRA/McGraw-Hill's structured direct-instruction reading curriculum, developed by Siegfried Engelmann for elementary learners. |
status |
review |
moved_from |
element/reading-mastery-direct-instruction-program, element/reading-mastery-program-element |
product_kind |
curriculum |
generated |
by process:sweep-kinds on 2026-10-10 |
trust |
unverified — no one has confirmed this page's content |
sources |
2 — wwc-intervention-report-reading-mastery-sramcgraw-hill-2006, what-works-clearinghouse-2010 |
Frontmatter is the page's machine-readable record — see the Schema & Guide.